3 Simple Soccer Drills

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11 Jul

RedLine Athletics is much more than just a strength and conditioning facility. Speed Power Core may be our motto, but why do we put our athletes through rigorous workouts? So that they can improve on the field or court... period. Everything that we do is geared toward helping our athletes excel and compete at their highest level possible, while always helping to prevent injuries.

It is apparent when you see a professional soccer player that he/she is in great physical shape, but once you get to that level, what separates the good from the great? Besides the scheme and tactics that his coaches come up with for each opponent, it has to be his ball control skills. So here are 3 simple, yet highly effective drills that soccer players at RedLine use to control the ball by keeping it close to their feet:

01Cone Weave: Setup 5-10 cones in a straight line with each cone about 1-2 yards apart. The soccer athlete is to dribble in and out of the cones moving forward. Dribble to the end and back using both feet. Next, the youth athlete should dribble to the end and back using only the right foot. Next dribble to the end and back using only the left foot. Repeat each of those 3-5 times.

02Dribble and Pull: Place 5-8 cones in a straight line about 2 yards apart. The youth soccer athlete starts “straight leg” dribbling straight ahead (with quick steps and keeping the ball close to their feet), from the first cone to the 3rd cone. At the third cone, stop the ball and pull the ball back to the second cone by pulling the top of the ball with the soles of the shoes. Then at the second cone “straight leg” dribble forward to the fourth cone, stop the ball and pull it back to the third cone. Continue with the forward 2 back 1 format for all the cones.

03Juggling: This is one of the oldest yet most simple drills to work on for ball control. The objective is to see how many touches the soccer athlete can in before the ball touches the ground. Here’s the challenge, elite soccer players allow the ball to hit the ground only when they want the ball to...